Efesus 3:13-21
Konteks3:13 For this reason I ask you 1 not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you, 2 which 3 is your glory. 4
3:14 For this reason 5 I kneel 6 before the Father, 7 3:15 from 8 whom every family 9 in heaven and on the earth is named. 3:16 I pray that 10 according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, 3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love, 3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 11 3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to 12 all the fullness of God.
3:20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us 13 is able to do far beyond 14 all that we ask or think, 3:21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
[3:13] 1 tn Grk “I ask.” No direct object is given in Greek, leaving room for the possibility that either “God” (since the verb is often associated with prayer) or “you” is in view.
[3:13] 2 tn Grk “my trials on your behalf.”
[3:13] 3 sn Which. The antecedent (i.e., the word or concept to which this clause refers back) may be either “what I am suffering for you” or the larger concept of the recipients not losing heart over Paul’s suffering for them. The relative pronoun “which” is attracted to the predicate nominative “glory” in its gender and number (feminine singular), making the antecedent ambiguous. Paul’s suffering for them could be viewed as their glory (cf. Col 1:24 for a parallel) in that his suffering has brought about their salvation, but if so his suffering must be viewed as more than his present imprisonment in Rome; it would be a general description of his ministry overall (cf. 2 Cor 11:23-27). The other option is that the author is implicitly arguing that the believers have continued to have courage in the midst of his trials (as not to lose heart suggests) and that this is their glory. Philippians 1:27-28 offers an interesting parallel: The believers’ courage in the face of adversity is a sign of their salvation.
[3:13] 4 tn Or “Or who is your glory?” The relative pronoun ἥτις (Jhti"), if divided differently, would become ἤ τίς (h ti"). Since there were no word breaks in the original
[3:14] 5 sn For this reason resumes the point begun in v. 1, after a long parenthesis.
[3:14] 6 tn Grk “I bend my knees.”
[3:14] 7 tc Most Western and Byzantine witnesses, along with a few others (א2 D F G Ψ 0278 1881 Ï lat sy), have “of our Lord Jesus Christ” after “Father,” but such an edifying phrase cannot explain the rise of the reading that lacks it, especially when the shorter reading is attested by early and important witnesses such as Ì46 א* A B C P 6 33 81 365 1175 1739 co Or Hier.
[3:15] 9 tn Or “the whole family.”
[3:16] 10 tn Grk “that.” In Greek v. 16 is a subordinate clause to vv. 14-15.
[3:18] 11 sn The object of these dimensions is not stated in the text. Interpreters have suggested a variety of referents for this unstated object, including the cross of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem (which is then sometimes linked to the Church), God’s power, the fullness of salvation given in Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the love of Christ. Of these interpretations, the last two are the most plausible. Associations from Wisdom literature favor the Wisdom of God, but the immediate context favors the love of Christ. For detailed discussion of these interpretive options, see A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC), 207-13, who ultimately favors the love of Christ.
[3:20] 13 sn On the power that is working within us see 1:19-20.
[3:20] 14 tn Or “infinitely beyond,” “far more abundantly than.”
